Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
(1Corinthians 8:1b) (TNIV)

As I have been in conversation with many about transitioning into seminary, I felt that last nights reading of 1 Corinthians was perfect. Back in Michigan, I would always teach my college leaders that college is a dangerous time. It is a time where one can easily fall into the trap of being consumed with themselves. It is about... my studying, my community, my work that I do for my future. Getting to know some people around the Fuller community, I don't think that life is all that different here. Is it okay to be consumed in your own personal studies while in seminary. There is a huge tension here. Do I invest in myself, so that I can be best equipped for the future? Or do I invest in people now and in the future? I'm excited to live this question out and see where this leads.

Whitney and I saw another free movie last night. It was the world premier of the new Phillip Seymore Hoffman film. It was called Savages and it was really good. The story was mediocre for me, but the acting made up for where the story fell short. We also recently saw LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. If you haven't seen this movie yet, please do. It is the BEST comedy of the year.

Whitney has her big interview today with Fuller. She will also hear from Venice Arts today. This is a day that we have been anticipating for a while. I have two important meetings tomorrow with local churches. We will keep you posted on how all of this goes. Tonight... However... Oh tonight!!! I will be celebrating my early birthday. My parents sent Whitney and I Dodger tickets via e-mail. We are so excited. Greg Maddux and his 83 mph cheese is on the hill, and Ken Griffey Jr. will be in center field. I can't wait to eat a Dodger Dog and drink an 8 dollar Bud Light while yelling rude comments at Griffey. Wait... I will not yell rude comments because love builds up!

The Grand Revealing!!!

I know that many of you have been ardously contimplating this extreme challenge for the past couple of days, leaving little room for anything else in life but pondering the mystery of Whitney's celebrity sighting. And the answer is... A!!! T.C. Carson... I know, I couldn't believe that Whitney knew who that dude was either. Anyway... nobody won, so I guess that I will keep the t-shirt that we had him sign on the street for us!

CELEBRITY SIGHTING!

Make your guess... We will send prizes via mail!!!

Whitney spotted our first celebrity since we have been in LA. As we were walking around Old Pas the other day, she heard a familiar laugh. The sound of the laugh led her eyes to the sight of...

A. T.C. Carson (Kyle Barker from Living Single)
B. Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton from Fresh Prince)
C. David Alan Greer (From In Living Color)
D. Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo from the Cosby Show)

LINKS

I spent some time creating some links for some of my favorite places on the web. If you have some time, check em out to laugh, cry, learn, and chill.

Bjork

Bjork was a former SLP friend of mine and just came out with his first CD. A lot of you Young Lifers might already know him as he has made a name for himself already on the camp scene. The CD is totally quality and think that many of you might enjoy it. Check him out at...

www.bjorkostrom.com

Surfin Safari...

We had a great day today... It began with a successful interview for Whitney in Venice. We will wait to hear on the job by Wednesday. Since we were already by the beach, we took the day off from sending out resumes and went to Hermosa Beach. We walked around the town, enjoyed the people and the local economy. After a two mile walk, we purchased our second body board... (one waiting for you!) and spent four hours at the beach. We had such a wonderful and relaxing time. Both of us got sunburned and loved every bit of UV abuse. Check out the site below to see Whitney riding the waves of Hermosa Beach...

http://video.google.com/videouploadfinished?docid=4442207988427745099&filename=wsb64__MTAwXzkxNjk.MOV

We finished the evening by spending some time in a local coffee shop working on a paper for class on the history of Origen, an interesting fellow that we all should know, and then over to the Fuller Bookstore for a live concert. The dude that played was brutal so we went and rented Inside Man. We are such party animals... Friday night and renting movies... I feel like my parents!

By the way... we got robbed! I was so excited. I have never personally been robbed before. After dinner last night, Whitney and I left our leftover food by our bikes while we walked around Old Town. When we returned back to our bikes, low and behold, the food was gone and we had been robbed!

We plan on hearing from California Pizza Kitchen tomorrow and look forward to an interview on Wednesday for Whitney with Fuller.

Conquering Hurt

While the skies are grey and the temperature over here in Venice beach is a mild 68 degrees, the day is perfect. You know, perfect like when your senses scream that things are the way that they should be. (The Kingdom of Heaven... Some might say.) I am sitting in an art studio in a beautifully urban part of LA, just outside of Venice Beach. As I look outside the huge windows in the fading strip mall in which I sit I see barred windows, old auto body shops, a pawn shop and sidewalks filled with cigarettes and litter. Yet inside these walls is something special. The main floor space is probably 15 feet wide and 60 feet long. The cement floor is cold are worn and the orange paint is cracking in every which way. The ceiling is 20 feet high and the walls are all white, but something unique is on the walls in this place. The walls are filled with black and white photography taken by students in the area. From a young hispanic boy in a cowboy hat on a city bus to two young black girls with hoola hoops in their hands, the art is incredible. While the art is awesome, to imagine the stories of the students that are behind the camara is even more special. I picture stories of hurt, and I picture restoration of that hurt in the form of art. I picture students dealing with their hurt through expression rather than through depression. I picture conquering hurt through positive experience, rather than numbing experience. I hope that I get to learn more about this kids! I have my earphones on, to dull the noise that is happening upstairs. On the second level Whitney is interviewing to teach in this place. I don't know how the interview is going, or even if Whitney will want this job after this morning, but it really doesn't matter right now. The moment is memorable and I am glad that I got to share it.

We're Going Sizzla... Almost (And a reflection on American prayer.)

We had our hardest day in California two days ago. It was one of thse days where nothing would go right. From personal computer trials, to dealing with frusterating people at Kinkos, to not getting near as much done as we wanted. Fortunately we had a wonderful dinner at California Pizza Kitchen with some new friends Michael and Tina. They are from Oakland. Tina is gong to be beginning school here at Fuller and Michael is in buisness. We even managed to teach them Settlers of Catan! Woot woot. It was a nice way to finish off a diffficult day. Things went well yesterday... I had my first AND SECOND interviews over at California Pizza Kitchen. (I asked the manager on our way out the previous night if they were hiring becuase I had heard that they had amazing benefits.) Sure enough, working there part time gets Whitney and I health/detal/life insurance, stock options and 401k. Pretty unbelievable. Also, it is 3 blocks away, so I can walk there. I have my third and final interview today at 3 with the general manager. Hopefully they will let me work full time until classes start. That would be pretty amazing! Whitney also has an interview on Friday down in Venice beach teaching art at an urban renwal sort of place. It looks like a great opportunity. You can check out the website at http://www.venice-arts.org. She also has a bunch more resumes out, and plans on putting a bunch more out today. This is a crazy time of life. I feel like so much of our lives are spent trying to give ourselves more "control" over our environments. From the technology that we buy, to the relationships that we have, to our jobs, to decisions that we make every second. Maybe this is just me, but I have a suspicion that this would flow with many people's feelings. Back in Grand Rapids I feel like Whitney and I had naturally manipulated our environment to put much "control" in our lives. From finances to programs at church... Was it just a big control fest? I have recognized this as Whitney and I have been praying here in Pasadena. Praying is different here. Praying is different when you have so little "control" over your surroundings. WE NEED TO PRAY HERE. Now I know that a lot of you are thinking right now, well golly gee Nick, we always need to be praying. And that is fine. But today I feel like I have been given just a small glimpse of what it means for a brother with Aids in Africa to pray, or for a sister undergoing persecution in China to pray. Prayers are different in America, and I don't know if I am okay with that.

What happens when a Korean, an Indian, a Brazilian, a Texan and a Michigander all walk into a bar?

Last night we had a community night with people from our apartment building. It turned out that only three people outside of Whitney and I showed up, but it was perfect for conversation. One man was from Korea, he was 31 years old, he was a new daddy and his dream was to be a missionary to Turkey. Another lady was probably about 40 years old. She was from Brazil and was the wife of a scholar who is currently writing a book at the seminary. She has two kids, 12 and 15, and made some unbelievable cheese balls. The cheese was super sharp and soft ( a unique conbination), and melted in my mouth. Dad you would have loved them! The final person in the room was a women, probably about 30 years old, from India. She is the community coordinator, a doctoral student, and a professor over at Azusa Pacific. We talked about our cultures, traditions and beliefs all evening. Wihtney and I basically sat back and listened, and took in the experience. We prayed at the end. The prayer was beautiful. Praying with people who don't speak English very well leaves little room for big fancy words, and much room for heart. I couldn't stop smiling during the prayer, it was like somebody had two strings, connected them to the ends of my mouth, and kept pulling up on them. God was near.

Smelling Salt

For the first time since we have arrived in California, Whitney and I laid our eyes on the ocean. We took the 110 down to Santa Monica and walked around for a couple of hours. We did the whole 3rd Street promenade thing, and then walked on down to the pier. From shopping, to a farmers market, to street performers, to Starbucks on every corner, we took in the whole experience. After doing the Santa Monica thing we hopped in our car and hopped on the Pacific Coast Highway. The famous drive did not disappoint. The ocean and the environment was breathtaking. We stopped at a little sushi and Thai place and at some great food. We then took an alternate route on the way home. We drove up the Santa Monica Mountains and through Topanga. Whitney enjoyed the view, while I enjoyed driving like Danica around the curves of the mountains. As soon as we made it over the mountain the temperature went from 72 to 87 in about 40 seconds. It was unbelievable. This evening we are anticipating hanging out with our community (the people who live in the apartment building) and tomorrow we anticipate going to Lake Ave for church. I'll throw some pictures up from the day so you can see how beautiful it is...



PS We saw V for Vendetta last night. That was a great movie. I can't wait to watch it again to try to wrap my mind around the thickness and layers to all of the themes of the film.

Early mornings

I suppose that the good news is that I slept in today until 6:15. This is better than the previous two days where I have left our mattress at 5:45 and 6:00 AM. I think that there is a combination of things going on here... Still feeling Michigan time, the non-stop hard work that we have been putting in everyday, and the largest factor, going to bed every night at 10:00 PM... Why 10 PM, because I am exhausted due to beginning on the computer at 6 AM and not finishing working until bed time. It has been an interesting cycle. Whitney is working today!!! How cool is that. We met with this local photographer who does creative portrait photography, and he hired her for today. (Minor detail, she is volunteering for him, but that is still sweet.) He doesn't think that he needs an assistant. But once he gets to work with Whitney, I think that he will be thinking otherwise! Otherwise, I know what work study I want to do on campus, and Whitney is growing her connections and has a list of 15 places she will be sending her info to. We are getting closer...

Does anyone know how I could post this documentary that Whitney and I made on the internet?

Will work for food...

Now that everything is settled regarding our apartment, we are officially on the hunt for jobs. We are excited because there are so many options in L.A.. We hope to stay close to Pasadena, and it looks like we will be able to do so. Hopefully, by the end of next week, Whitney and I will both have jobs, and will be contributing to our economy!
My new favorite thing to do in the evening is to watch the 5 o'clock news. However, I have only been watching toward the end of the hour long broadcast... This is where the weather section is for Pasadena. I think that I am going into the wrong profession and that I should have been a weatherman in Los Angeles. Everyday... high 85, low 66, mostly sunny. I like watching to remind myself of the beauty of the climate of this location. Can't wait for the beach in December! More importantly I met with my academic advisor this morning and got classes set for the quarter. Everything looks good for 14 credits this fall. I will be beginning greek and I will also be taking a class with Chap Clark. Good times. My brain has been calling out for some stimulation from all of the physical work that we have been doing with the move. So I picked up Dallas Willard's new book called The Great Omission. I am only on chapter 3 and am officially hooked on his thoughts regarding the tension between being a "christian" and being a disciple. I highly recommend it to you all. (Click the question mark above to see more or to purchase.) I will check back again when we get some leads on jobs, otherwise have a great weekend.

Ipods aren't perfect

Today is the day that I learned that Ipods are not the most completely perfect invention in the history of mankind. After a wonderful day yesterday of getting the Walkers’ on their way back to Dallas and completing the organization of our apartment, I woke up early this morning. I went and grabbed a cup of coffee at the book store and headed over to a building on campus (The Catalyst) to finish a lecture for my distance learning class. After I finished the class I turned on my Ipod for the walk over to the library to work on the internet. I was listening to a favorite Charlie Hall song, enjoying the worship of the lyrics and the rhythms… in the spirit I suppose some would say. Well as I was walking firemen were running all around me… I didn’t even flinch! I was so oblivious!!! Ladies in the library started waving at me from the windows to get in and a fireman with a hose was running right behind me, and it hit home… I needed to get inside. I was informed that there was a gas leak from the groundwork that they were doing in front of the library. As soon as I sat down in the library a firewoman ran inside and told us all to evacuate immediately. I’ve never seen a group of 9 AM seminary students move so fast in my life! So here I sit, evacuated from the building, with the smell of gas in the air (seriously) writing this blog for you. I’ll run and grab my camara and try to get a picture. (This way you can get a peek of the campus too.) Peace to you all…

With a mountain and a palm tree in sight...

(Written on 8-12)
It is finished... The trip that is. We safely arrived onto Fuller's campus at 3:01 PM yesterday. After 2296 miles, a dozen fast food stops, 18 cups of coffee, 897 dollars in gas and severe butt ache from sitting for so long... We made it. After we arrived at the campus we through Whitney's car off of the back of the trailer and went to Burbank to pick up her parents from the airport. As soon as we got back to Pasadena we got after it. By 10 PM the truck was unloaded, the furniture was in place and we had made five new friends (all who helped us unload the truck). By noon the following day, which is today, we are 98 percent finished unloading all the boxes and making the apartment look like TLC. We were so glad to finish early so that we can spend the next two days having fun with the Walkers. We are heading to the coast this evening for dinner, plan on golf and shopping tomorrow, and also plan on consuming In and Out Burgers (Does anyone know the secret words... I forget.) The Walkers have never had the delight of In and Out. I don't have pictures up yet, but I will as soon as I download them from the internet. Thanks for reading and we'll see you soon...

Flirting with Vegas

(This is a writing from 8-10-06)

If you haven’t been to Las Vegas before Whitney and I would recommend it. We have never seen such a stimulating location. From lights, to architecture, to shopping, to casinos, to traffic, to the most diverse population of people. (Such a unique perspective on the present and future Kingdom.) We have been shacking up at The Orleans, a location that my dad suggested that is off the strip and close to the highway. The past two days we have taken a shuttle to the strip to explore. While the shopping is a little out of our price range (Armani, Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Dior, Fendi, and the like) we had fun walking around and taking in the environment. We ate dinner at The Stage Deli (New York) and walked through Caesars Palace, Belaggio, and The Venitian. Since our lease on our apartment didn’t begin until the 11th, we decided to stay one more day in Vegas. So on Wednesday we slept in, ate at a huge buffet, layed by the pool, and spent some of our winnings on matching Lacoste polos. (We will be wearing them with collars popped while holding a green stuffed alligator on Christmas cards!) (jk) We ate fine dining at Chipotle and made it in early this evening to bed. We will arrive in Pasadena tomorrow around 1 PM to unload the truck. Whitney’s parents will be meeting us in LA to help unpack. So cool. I’m not sure when we will next have access to e-mail, but I’m sure we will find a local coffee shop in Pasadena to keep in touch. Thanks for visiting…Peace…

From Park City

Greetings,
We drove a mere 450 miles today from Cheyenne to Park City, Utah. The drive was unlike anything that I had ever seen. The mountains, the rivers, the lakes, the beauty... Unbelievable. Whitney and I have been hanging around Park City all evening. Checking out an outlet mall, local flavors, and a site where the olympics were held. We will be leaving bright and early tomorrow to take the 8 hour drive to Vegas. Neither of us have ever been there and we anticipate the experience. By the way... Whitney and I are making a DVD of our trip. We will try to get it online. Good times.

Greetings from a mountain... I think.

So Whitney and I have been on the road for approximately 41 hours. We have actually been driving for about 19 hours and that lands us right in the middle of Cheyenne, Wyoming. I think that we are up high, but I really am not sure, because the last 5 hours of driving last night were done in the dark. All I know is that this rental truck was in second gear at about 55 mph for the last two hours last night. (This is a loud and scary noise.) We were thinking that the camping thing might be worth giving a try, but late night driving has left us excited to stop at hotels. Traveling has been smooth with the exception of one flat tire. This was taken care of within an hour, and we were back on the road. Stopped in Iowa City on the first night after leaving at 5 PM on Sunday from the GRap. We were able to leave at 5 PM on Sunday because an army of people from Heritage and Young Life all came and moved our shtuff in a mere two hours out of our apartment. I plan on keeping this journal going for a while, so be sure to stop by every oncein a while. You might catch a story or two that makes you smile. Thanks for visiting, thanks for caring. PEACE.